On Fair Grounds - Starting out! Cultures of Equality at Dutch Design Week

Are you a (soon-to-be) graduate in the arts, creative sector, or design world? To help you get started, EUNIC NL and the Design Academy Eindhoven Lecture Series Committee present On Fair Grounds. Each year, we create a space for young artists and designers to explore fair practices and sustainable career paths through a moderated conversation with professionals from different fields. This edition responds directly to the needs of the next generation of professionals: how do you enter the creative world on fair terms? What does it take to build a sustainable practice? And how can knowledge of fair practice frameworks form a foundation for a thriving cultural sector?

Practical information
Date: Friday 24 October 2025
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Location: Foundation We Are, Torenallee 22-04, Eindhoven
Language: English

We're delighted to be guided and welcomed by Isabel Sheridan, a programme maker and moderator driven by a fascination for the latest developments in art, technology, and identity. After joining the FAIR P(L)AY event in 2024, she joined the Dutch trade union for artists and creative professionals, de Kunstenbond. She currently works as impact manager at opera company Silbersee, and has previously worked as a programme maker at De Balie, as a film and TV researcher, and as editor at the feminist platform Lilith Magazine.

We are eager to speak to the inventive duo The New Raw, a Rotterdam-based design and research studio founded by architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki. Through their pioneering work with robotic 3D printing, they transform plastic waste into sustainable furniture and design objects that are 100% circular. By combining advanced technology with a zero-waste philosophy and deep respect for material craft, The New Raw demonstrates how design can redefine waste as a resource, offering future generations both inspiration and practical examples of fair, sustainable creative practice.

Foteini and Panos are joining upon invitation by the Embassy of Greece in The Hague.

Joining us too is Martina Farrugia, a multidisciplinary artist and designer currently pursuing the Masters in Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute, focusing on the exploration of accessible tools for publishing and archival practices.

Beyond her artistic practice, Farrugia has worked within cultural institutions in both Malta and the Netherlands. Driven by an interest in archival methods, she worked as a photographer in the Digitisation Department at Heritage Malta (2021), where she focused on documenting the artifacts of the Maritime Museum. During her early years in the Netherlands, she took on the role of Press Coordinator for Shimmer (2021–2024) and simultaneously worked at MaMA (2021–2024) as a host and researcher on visitor engagement.

Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions across the Netherlands, Malta, and Romania, including MaMA, Embassies of Design – Design Passage (The Hague), the Malta Society of Arts, and Romanian Creative Week (2025). She held her first solo exhibition at the Embassy of Malta in The Hague (2023).

We are kindly welcomed once more by Foundation We Are in Eindhoven. We resonate with their mission: fostering interdisciplinary design and collaboration to navigate the major transitions shaping our world, whether in governance, civic society, media culture, technology, or environmental resilience.

On Fair Grounds is co-created by the Design Academy Eindhoven Lecture Series and EUNIC NL. Participating members of EUNIC Netherlands: DutchCulture, the Embassy of Greece, the Embassy of Malta.